Purple Haze

Dusk at Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo creates that rarest of hues in the natural world: violet (purple). The colour is at the extremity of the spectrum and is hard to find in nature. Perhaps this is why we have always prized purple, and associate it with royalty and wealth. Here, the red of the lava lake mixes with the post sunset blue hour to create nature’s purple haze. This photograph was taken in October 2017, shortly before the Virunga region was closed to tourists.